Senior sports editor Noah Devault and sophomore Noah Trapp battle it out. In today’s column, the Noahs argue about whether pro sports have become too professional.

Noah Trapp:

College sports have always been a big part of American culture, especially the football side. Every year there are multiple rival games that attract the viewership of millions around the United States.

I do not believe that college athletics are becoming too professional because they are getting paid based on their skill and how much they have trained to get into the position they are.

There is something called an NIL deal that stands for the player’s Name, Image and Likeness, which allows them to earn money for their personal brand. Companies will also choose well-known players, whether they earned fame through talent or social media.

The NCAA allowed college athletes to sign NIL deals starting in 2021. Meaning players only got scholarships not actual money in hand before then. Also top-tier college programs have been bringing in millions of dollars a year, sometimes having the highest tier schools reaching close to $100 million a year. College athletes are just finally being paid for their talent and all of the work that they have put in. 

College sports offer young athletes opportunities to showcase their skills. That is why there are different levels of college athletics: junior college, NAIA, Division I, Division II, Division III. There are big skills gaps between these levels.

Juco and D3 athletes are not signing for the same amount as the D2 and D1 schools. 

So, yes, some might say that college sports are getting to be too professional but that isn’t the case. Payers are just making money based on how good they are.

Noah DeVault: 

Emotion, community and rivalries are what college sports were once built on. Now, NIL, one-and-done and four-year transfers have taken over. 

In 2021 the NCAA changed the rules to let its athletes use their Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) to earn money while still competing at the collegiate level. 

Colleges were bringing in millions of dollars for jerseys and ticket sales, but players received none of the revenue. A change was needed; however, this created a massive problem with athletes chasing money instead of chasing what was formerly important; winning. 

Also in 2021, the NCAA made college players eligible to transfer to a new school and play immediately, one time. 

Before this, athletes who chose to transfer had to sit out for a full season before they were eligible. 

When the NCAA made a new tweak to the transfer rules, things got uncontrollably out of hand. 

In 2024 the NCAA ratified the rule in which students who transferred schools were immediately eligible to play for their new school no matter how many times they transferred. 

This made it even easier for players to just chase money while in college – and easier for big name schools to succeed. 

The final four teams playing in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in March were all No. 1 seeds. It was the first time it happened since I was born in 2008. 

I fear that this will keep repeating, and our favorite “cinderellas” like Loyola, Drake, Wichita State and NC State will no longer have any chance. 

Small schools like this have always struggled with money. Before NIL was legal, they had less scholarship money than big schools. Also big schools would oftentimes pay players under the table, and the NCAA would “investigate” but ultimately wouldn’t do anything about it. 

The NCAA and NJCAA made a rule for when junior college athletes transfer to a DI school. It says the years spent playing juco ball do not count towards four-year college eligibility. 

Six-year seniors are grown men who should be playing against guys like Kevin Durrant, Steph Curry or LeBron James. The other option is to not play at all. 

“If these guys at 28 years old are eligible to play college basketball and get paid more than they would in a regular job, why wouldn’t they keep playing,” Arkansas men’s basketball coach John Callipari said. “We had the youngest group of guys in college basketball this year. Why should my 18-year-olds have to play against 28 year olds at the collegiate level?”

Four-year transfers is the biggest fluke in college sports right now. 

Players will attend 4-6 years of college and get paid millions of dollars, or hundreds of thousand depending on the player, yet they come out with not one degree. In that amount of time, one can achieve an associates, bachelors and some even a post-graduate or masters degree. 

When a normal person achieves said degrees, they come out with debt, not millions of dollars.

If you want to sit on your couch every year and figure out who all of the new players on your team are, be my guest. 

But for me I’d like to rock with the same core group of guys playing for their city, teammates and for the ultimate goal of winning.